I do not think the arguements for a fat Army are sound in any sense... just fanning a fire... There is no legal basis for discrimination, only a personal feeling... No one ever said that people who are overweight are bad, but since the standards are in black and white, there is no arguement, either meet the standards or accept the outcome - it is not a pun-ishment, it is the way that it is. If you want the standards reviewed to be changed, then by all means begin that process with your elected representatives.

So, unless you are black and white color-blind, which would explain why this thread has gone on so long, or have (like I and many do) friends, colleagues, and peers who are dealing with the H/W issue and trying to find a way to make thier lives easier without effort, I think providing support and assistance is the best way to help the soldiers who have the issue... All soldiers deserve the benefit of the doubt, even potential recruits who show the effort to do what they need to - if the H/W issue is from post-deployment problems - then a good Chaplainator would be better used to help identify those issues first, then move on to the others.

If it is an issue of fixing the mind to fix the body, then that is the mission... When I was in OCS the catch term was "Behavioral Modification" - it applies in a number of areas, and I always have my own room for improvement like everyone else. I have two cats, one skinny and one fat.. I do not discriminate against my cute lil (well not so little) pudgy lil fat kitty, but there are things that fat baby can not do that skinny kitty can.. it is just the way things are...

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My hand is in the air. Sometimes you can only learn by reeaaalllllyyy thinking hard about what you believe to be true. Most of us had a knee jerk response to the original post and some of the follow ups, but by defending them and fleshing out our reasoning, we now have a real position and not just an opinion (and we were right, that's always nice).
Thank you Chaplain4me, for conditioning my mind and body! Liked it, loved it. Want more of it. Smoke me!

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I think I'll chime in here now and add my thoughts. Chaplin I understand what your saying about this being a National Security threat I remember I said to myself once that because of all the health problems that are affecting people today just how are we as a nation going to field an Army with bodies and guess what happened 2 years later a report came out from Washington about how our youth are out of shape and medically not fit to service that it's a security threat to the country. Now maybe you might be right that the Military might have to work with this changing population to make sure we can have people to serve by lowering standards BUT this is what I think we should do. We should first take out all the **** junk food that they serve in our public schools and no unhealthy vending machine food ( yes there are actaully healthy vending machines out there that serve healthy food ). Next we actually make gym class do what it's supposed to do and thats give the kids REAL exercise. I mean if you go to every HIGH school in the country you are going to see the same thing and hear the same thing from all students everywhere that gym class is a joke and a wasit of taxpayer dollars and guess what they are correct. I'm 23 ( Man I feel old ) and It wasn't too long ago that I was in HS and I remember at BEST the most phhysical fitness we did in gym was run a mile maybe once in a while and usually just walk the track. Now personally I have always worked out and always felt it best to stay in good shape ( granted I **** at running and have to work on it ) and have always done sports so the lack of gym class wasn't a problem for me.

Also when I say make GYM a REAL class you can have the gym classes ordered to pick one of the five services PT tests and have them train the students for it because that would be useful for later on after graduation. Also and I know alot of people will argue with me on this one but in order to also graduate HS you would need to pass a physical fitness test and also make an incentive for kids to do the very best they could on it such as money or something that could be thought of.

Now thats what the goverment can do at that it's on the person themselves to be stay fit I mean maybe also change our system of taxation and stop inflation to make healthy food more available to everyone so poor people could be able to afford it.

Now those are my campaign promises and if elected I promise to see them through! Haha I just had to add that in!

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Ok people lets hold hands around the camp fire and sing "Kumbaya" and kiss eachs others azzes....NOT! Another philosophy discussion on "equalism". I get it....Everybody gets a trophy whether your in 1st or 13th place. Hey its just an alternative lifeystyle....Just embrace it and roll with it....

I bet you love them black berets? Eh! They used to mean something... A yes means a no and a no means a yes; There is no right or wrong answer.....It's relativism.

German soldiers are 'too fat to fight' Taliban
because they drink so much
(while our boys go dry).

They drink too much and they're too fat to fight, that's the damning conclusion of German parliamentary reports into the country's 3,500 troops stationed in Afghanistan.While British and U.S. troops in the country face a strict ban on alcohol, their German comrades are allowed two pints a day.The stunning statistics reveal that in 2007 German forces in northern Afghanistan drank 1.7million pints of beer and 90,000 bottles of wine.The troops also downed 896,000 pints of beer in the first six months of this year, the Times reported.

The statistics only add to the embarrassment of the country's federal army, Bundeswehr, after a report earlier this year
found troops to be too fat, smoked too much and didn't exercise enough.
It showed they lived on beer and sausages while shunning fruit and vegetables.